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Monday, July 13, 2009

Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

This week we made Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread and this is definitely a bread that I am going to be making again and again. Everyone loved it. We loved it toasted, we loved it fresh from the oven and we LOVED it as French Toast!!! I was a little apprehensive when I went to make it as T. doesn’t like raisins and the kids don’t like walnuts but I forged ahead and added everything as it should be and they ended up loving everything about it!!!

About the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Group: Nicole of Pinch my Salt sent out a twitter message saying “I need a challenge. Am thinking of baking my way through every single recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Anyone want to join me?” Well I jumped right in. Both feet, no thought at all. I think I was one of the first 5 that joined…did I even have the book? Nope but I ordered it that night!!!

We are now over 200 strong with members everywhere on the globe. It’s an incredibly enthusiastic group that wants to share like no group I have ever belonged to before. Awesome!

Our goal is to bake our way through Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. An intimidating book at anytime but to think that you are going to be baking one of these recipes a week is slightly overwhelming to say the least. But I love a challenge and feel a real need to get out of my comfort zone. Oh yah, I bake all of our bread but I never seem to have the time or the desire to try something new and different. This will change all that!!!

Now my loaves were anything but perfect looking from the outside. I could have maybe baked them a bit longer to brown them up more and spent a few more minutes shaping them but all in all the rise was perfect and the crumb is wonderful!!!

I followed the directions on this one exactly (flour, sugar, salt, yeast, cinnamon, egg, shortening, buttermilk, water, raisins and nuts) the only thing I didn’t do was to add a swirl of cinnamon sugar that could be added during the final shaping. I just thought it would be good the way it was and I was right. Next time I may do one loaf with the swirl just to test it out!

Will I be making these again? Oh yes I will!!! These loaves turned out wonderfully and I will be making this bread again and again!!!

There are several ways for you to join in the fun! First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Then just start baking! Even if you are starting late, just begin with the first recipe and start working your way through. There are several ways to communicate with the group as you begin your journey:

Flickr: We have set up a BBA Challenge Flickr Group where you can upload photos, see photos from other members, and even post questions and comments in the group forum. It’s a private group, so you will need to click on the link that says ‘join this group’ if you want to be able to post photos. As long as you are willing to bake bread all of the bread from the book, you are welcome to join the Flickr group!

Twitter: If you use twitter, you can follow what the group is doing by searching for #BBA or #bba using Twitter’s search box. You can join in on the conversation by adding the #bba or #BBA tag to the end of your tweets when you are talking about anything related to the BBA Challenge. For me, following what people are doing on twitter has been the most fun!

Facebook: If you’re on Facebook, you can join the BBA Challenge Group there and share photos, ask questions, and talk about your bread baking experiences with other BBA members on Facebook.

Very instructive... at least you offered to reveal the "ingredients" (unlike the other bloggers I've been reading trying to find the exact recipe for this yummy bread), but what about amounts???? Is there a place where I can get this recipe from without having to purchase the book? I know, I should buy it, but that's the nice part of blogging... one can learn so many things without actually paying ;)...

Thanks for the compliments on this CIELO but no you do have to buy the book for the whole recipe. out of respect for the author we have all decided not to publish his recipes. Most bloggers only publish their own recipes or ones that have been previously published...